Lydia Kepulis
Abstraction Takes Place
Animation Lesson Plan
Grades: 4th-5th
Time: 45-60 min at least/2 class periods
FOCUS: The students are assigned a location, and using their imaginations, they are to develop a representation of that location in a more simplified, abstract way using today’s digital technology.
OBJECTIVES: This lesson will help students become more comfortable with producing art from their imaginations. Rather than copying a picture exactly how it appears, this exercise allows them to produce their very own, original piece of art. Students will learn that every picture can be broken down into shapes and be made abstract if they allow themselves to be open-minded.
MOTIVATIONAL RESOURCES:
Joan Miro’s Artwork:
“The Village of Prades�
“The Parth Ciurana�
website: http://www.abcgallery.com/M/miro/miro.html
Henri Matisse’s Artwork:
“The Snail�
“Two Girls in a Yellow & Red Interior�
“Two Dancers�
website: http://www.artchive.com/artchive/M/matisse.html#images
Monica Giglio’s Artwork:
“Summer�
“Going Places�
“Intimate Land and Sky�
website: http://www.monicagiglio.com/abstract.htm
Other Artists: If students are interested in more examples, send them to look at the works of Picasso and Mondrian (his trees in the works more specifically).
MATERIALS: Computer, Adobe Photoshop (if unavailable PowerPoint or Paint should work), Sketchbook and pencil, Flash Drive
INTRO LESSON:
To begin this lesson, briefly explain the assignment to the students and what is expected of them. The students can work alone, or in pairs if they are not very familiar with the programs being used. Working with a partner can be very helpful because students can help each other brainstorm ideas for their project and understand the program being used.
After they understand what the lesson will be about, it is important to acknowledge the vocabulary the students will be working with. I recommend defining the word 'abstract' for the students, in case they are not completely familiar with this term. Doing so will help the students brainstorm ideas for their assignments and there will be less confusion with the final results. Some definitions for abstract are “…Artwork that reshapes the natural world for expressive purposes...� (“Abstraction�), something that is abstract places a significant amount on emphasis on the color, line and form of the artwork (“Abstract�), and “…art that depicts real forms in a simplified or rather reduced way - keeping only an allusion of the original natural subject� (“Abstract Art�).
It is always helpful to show students examples that we can see in the art world today, and these examples can either be professional artworks, or even your own works. While viewing the examples, it is always helpful to point out what makes each example abstract. Three artists I recommend using as examples are Joan Miro, Henri Matisse, and Monica Giglio. Miro's “The Village of Prades� and “The Path Cuirana� are two good examples that clearly depict a location by simply breaking it down into shapes and color. He did not need little details to help the viewer understand what they were seeing. The shape and color do that alone. Matisse's "The Snail", "Two Girls in a Yellow and Red Interior", and "Two Dancers" are also very good examples. Again, similar to Miro, Matisse focused on minimalism. He broke down his scenes into shapes and used color to tell us a story. One more artist who did this goes by the name of Monica Giglio. Her artworks that work well for this lesson as examples are "Summer", "Going Places", and "Intimate Land and Sky". These artworks are very simple in composition and color but still do a good job expressing what we are looking at. The three artists I recommended would work but its important not to forget that there are many other artists that could work as examples for this lesson also.
INSTRUCTIONAL PROCEDURE:
After the lesson is introduced to the students, they should each be assigned a theme or location. If the instructor is okay with them working in pairs, then each group would get one location. Assigning students their locations will help avoid repetition and adds variety to the overall project. How the students are assigned the locations is up to the instructor (draw numbers, pick out of hat or box, or on a first come, first serve basis are some possibilities). Types of locations that could be used are like the beach, sunset, farm, ocean, school, prairie, playground, bedroom, lighthouse, etc... If the students get stumped on how to simplify their locations, brainstorm with them or have them do online research. Once the locations are drawn and assigned to students, have them sketch out a simple abstract version of their place, which will eventually be made digitally.
Once each student has a basic idea of what their location will look like, it is time to convert it to a digital animation. Some programs that could work for this lesson are Photoshop or Powerpoint, although Powerpoint would be more difficult. For the sake of this lesson plan, I will assume the program being used is Photoshop. First have them open up a new document and as a class, have them make it the same size document. Doing this makes viewing the projects in the end much easier and the different animations can be strung together to make one big class animation.
Having the students refer to their sketchbooks, have them mimic 1-2 shapes from their sketchbooks and put them onto the new document. Right click on the title of the layer and click duplicate. A new layer will pop up. Make sure the students know to always be working on the top layer.
At this point, they will repeat the procedure (Add a shape or two, right click, click duplicate). This is to be repeated until the entire project is on the computer. Let them know beforehand that these animations do not need to be very long and that it would probably be in their best interest to keep them no longer than 10-15 layers. However, if students seem to have caught on quicker or finished early, encourage them to continue adding layers.
When the students are finished adding all of the layers to make their locations, have them click on Windows and scroll down to Animate. A bar will pop up and have them click on the button that looks like an upside-down triangle and three lines. It is located near the right end of the animation bar. After they click this button, have them scroll and click on Make Frames From Layers. At this point, have them decide how long they want each frame to be. Save the final piece on a flash drive for rendering purposes.
Future Changes:
I would make the animation longer. I feel like adding a few more slides would have been beneficial. I also think there are some craftsmanship issues with some of my organic lines that I would redo. I think I was not giving myself enough time or at least not taking the project as seriously as I would now that I understand how it will turn out.
